El-P brings Cancer 4 Cure to the UK for autumn 2012 tour

Fad of the year on YouTube - uploading a teaser for your album, sit back and watch the comments, good or bad, flood in from eager fans and haters alike. So if you're going to post a short pre-release advert for your life's work, you may as well take a hint from hard-hitting rapper and producer El-P, who recently unleashed his trailer for just-issued album, 'Cancer 4 Cure'. The comparable image contained within best describes the label-founder and verbalist to a tee - his jackhammer nail-gun beats are not unlike being tazered in the privates. As for his rhymes? Leave it to some of his titles to fill you in - 'Deep Space 9mm', and 'I'll Sleep When You're Dead' are, as they may declare in his native New York, ill, sick and dusty.

Initially part of the acclaimed hip-hop outfit Company Flow back in the '90s and more recently part of the recently split The Weatherman (due mainly to the late Camu Tao's passing), El-P began his hip-hop journey by forming Definitive Jux in 1999, a label synonymous with technically and critically acclaimed hip-hop with early signings that included Murs, Aesop Rock and RJD2, as well as his own EPs and albums. Never one to flood the market with an album every year, El-P's output is far from prolific, but is pin-sharp when it comes to the finished product, much like his jazz-musician father, Harry Keys.

Continuing in typical style (an album every 5 years), 'Cancer 4 Cure' is perhaps his toughest, roughest and musically complete set to date. Recent singles 'Drones Over BRKLYN' and 'The Full Retard' are reminiscent of the high old days of MC Shan, Jungle Brothers and early EPMD with just the right amount of seedy profanity, humour and, coke-snorting rodents in his videos (check out 'The Full Retard' on You Tube for proof). That'll be 'Mr Killums' in full effect.

In response to UK acclaim directed at El-P's latest album, he has announced a handful of shows beginning with London on 12th September, followed by Brighton, Bristol and Manchester. We have tickets for all shows now, priced at £13-£14.

Paul Pledger